It feels to me like we're experiencing a renaissance of brilliant, talented black writers discussing racial issues in print. Maybe people have been writing like this all along but it hasn't made the mainstream media. Or maybe it's been in mainstream media all along and I haven't been paying enough attention. Well, I'm paying attention now, to writers like Michelle Alexander whose 2010 book, The New Jim Crow, presented the fundamental arguments against mass incarceration, and Ta-Nehisi Coates whose book, Between the World and Me, is the finest discussion of racism in America I've read in decades and one of the finest examples of nonfiction as literature I've read in at least as long. (Coates, by the way, has the cover story in this month's Atlantic Magazine, The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration, a long, excellent article I'm working my way through. For comic book fans, Coates is going to write the next "Black Panther" series published by Marvel Comics, a series which presented the first black superhero in 1966.)

And I'm going to be reading more work by Jelani Cobb, a staff writer at the New Yorker. A few weeks ago, he wrote Class Notes: What’s really at stake when a school closes? It's a first person account of the history of Jamaica High School in Queens, which he attended in the 1980s and which closed recently. It's an interesting discussion of the way Jamaica High went from a school attended by white students to a predominantly black school with diminishing enrollment. The whole article is worth a read.

The part I want to spotlight is near the end, where Cobb discusses the debate raging about our "failing schools." Are they "failing" because the teachers, the unions, the administrators and the district are doing a lousy job, or are the problems more a function of societal problems like racism and income inequality? Obviously, it's not an either-or question, but you can tell where people stand on the issue by how they answer it. Today's "education reformers" tend to be public school—or in their favored terminology, "government school"—bashers. Don't blame society, they say, fix the schools, or get rid of the "failing schools" and start over, and you'll fix the problem. The other side, which really doesn't have a name—"progressive educators" is as good as any—says you can't expect the schools to fix the injustices or heal the wounds created by the outside society all by themselves. The schools are part of the process of improvement, but they can't do their jobs effectively while societal problems are allowed to fester. Cobbs is on the "progressive" side of the argument, as am I.

I'm going to copy a long, complex passage from the article which, I think, brilliantly summarizes the history of school integration since Brown v. Board of Education, but before I do, let me pull out two salient lines.

"Both busing and school closure recognize the educational obstacles that concentrated poverty creates. But busing recognized a combination of unjust history and policy as complicit in educational failure. In the ideology of school closure, though, the lines of responsibility—of blame, really—run inward. It’s not society that has failed, in this perspective. It’s the schools."

"The current language of educational reform emphasizes racial “achievement gaps” and “underperforming schools” but also tends to approach education as if history had never happened."

There is a way to tell if a book is a well written polemic by a conservative author. I call it “The C Clue.” If you look up a book on Amazon, you will see a horizontal bar graph. This graph depicts the relative numbers of the different star ratings. A conservative polemic will have a large number of one star ratings with somewhat fewer two star ratings. They represent the work of those from the other side of the political spectrum who wish to suppress the book. The book will have few three star ratings, but many four star, and still more five star ratings from conservatives who love a well written polemic. So, when the graph looks like a “C,” you may assume it to be arguing from a conservative political perspective.

Such a book is The Devil’s Pleasure Palace: The Cult of Critical Theory and the Subversion of the West, by Michael Walsh (as of this writing, this book is more of a capital E, but you get the idea).

To get a good perspective on this book, one should take a look at the author. Walsh graduated from the Eastman School of Music in 1971. He worked as a reporter for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, then became its classical music critic. He later became a music critic for the San Francisco Examiner, then for Time Magazine. Around the turn of the century he was a Professor of Journalism and Professor of Film & Television at Boston University. He wrote for National Review, and had a weekly column at the New York Post. He helped Andrew Breitbart launch Big Journalism.com, and became a featured journalist at PJ Media. He has authored over a dozen books both fiction and nonfiction. In short, he is a bit of a Renaissance Man.

Tucson Unified School District's Palo Verde High School has been an eventful little monster these past few days: In the beginning of last week, six students were arrested for fighting in the school's parking lot; and on Friday, there was a lock down over alleged sightings of a young man with a gun on site. At the end of it all, no suspect or gun were found. 

TUSD critics, or so-called whistleblowers, are blaming the district's leadership for the Palo Verde mess, saying a series of events that went undisciplined led to what took place last week. 

Here are their thoughts on the situation:

Come learn about the mass incarceration of immigrants at the YWCA tomorrow night.

This is the third event the YWCA is hosting as part of their ongoing talks on the country's sentencing and prison system, and their effects on the community. Tucson-based immigration attorney Margo Cowan, Coalición de Derechos Humanos' Isabel Garcia and Caroline Isaacs, program director of the American Friends Service Committee, will focus on Operation Streamline, and its connection to private prisons' bed quota and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

A reminder of what Operation Streamline is:

Operation Streamline began in Del Rio, Texas back in 2005,  It made its way to Tucson three years later, and now operates in a total of seven border cities. After migrants are apprehended by the Border Patrol, oftentimes while crossing the Sonoran Desert, some are put in temporary detention facilities and others forced to sign paperwork in English, which many of them do not understand, and by doing so they agree to immediate deportation back to Mexico and other native countries. 

But every day, at least 70 migrants who are apprehended are then prosecuted in federal court. They get less than 20 minutes to talk to a public defender. They are shackled and given no option but to plead guilty to illegal entry, which leads to a sentence of up to six months in prison. They are then deported, except now with a felony conviction in their record. 

"The session will offer a context of why the Latino population is booming in prison right now, and how much state money is being allocated to Operation Streamline," says Liane Hernandez of the YWCA. 

Members of the group Mi Familia Vota will also participate. After the talk, they will help people register to vote for the upcoming elections.

The discussion is on Wednesday, Sept. 23 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Meeeow.. Hi I’m Satin! I’m 10 years old and was released to HSSA when my owner could no longer care for me. I get to be part of the Guardian Angel program which means no kennel for me! I’m looking for a new forever home where I can have my own space but still give love and cuddles when I’m wanting my head scratched or feeling like nuzzling up against my new best friend’s legs for a little cat nap! I love to lounge around and scratch on a kitty post. I’m looking for a home where my owners will keep my inside at all time the environment is relaxed and fairly quiet. If you think I’ll be a great fit for you and your family please come by the Main Campus and ask to spend some time with me! I can’t wait to meet you.

Lots of love,

Satin - 812887 

Tuesday is the day we hear how Gov. Ducey's Classrooms First Initiative Council wants to change the way the current school funding is handed out. I have no inside information about what they'll be presenting, but, at the risk of making a fool of myself, let me predict the nature of the group's approach and proposals.

Three things you have to know before we play the proposal guessing game. First, the council's task isn't to recommend more education funding. It's to take what's already out there and redistribute it. Since every school is a loser right now with our bottom-of-the-barrel per student funding, re-dividing the pie will mean some schools and students will be even greater losers and others will be in a bit better shape. Second, the board appointed by Ducey is evenly divided between charter and school district people, even though charters educate less that 20 percent of the state's students. You can be sure that the charter school complaint that they get less money per student than districts, a complaint that doesn't hold water if you look at the numbers carefully, will get careful and thoughtful consideration. Third, the groups offering "technical and policy assistance" to the council lean heavily toward the "education reform"/privatization end of the spectrum, including: the libertarian Reason Foundation, the conservative/libertarian Goldwater Institute, Jeb Bush's Foundation for Excellence in Education and the Arizona Charter Schools Association. There are also some less privatization-friendly groups offering assistance, but they're in the minority.

Here are two things I expect from the council's recommendations: (1) They will do their best to make it sound like the funding changes are designed to help the lowest achieving students from the poorest families; and (2) More money will flow in the direction of districts with students from high income families, and to charter schools.

Right now, Arizona has a complex education funding formula where a basic amount of state money flows to each student, then more money is added for students who have needs beyond those of most students. That means extra money goes to districts with more ELL students, special education students and other students needing more educational attention and enrichment. It's likely that, say, TUSD and Sunnyside get more of that extra funding than, say, Catalina Foothills. That's the funding formula the council wants to change.

Ducey says he wants to "assemble one funding formula that every school can use and understand." That's a deceptive way of saying he wants to cut back on all those complicated formulas for giving more money to districts with high needs children. Think of it as a funding version of the flat tax, where its proponents say it's a way to make paying taxes simpler and fairer but the result is that the rich end up paying less while the poor and middle class pay more.

I don't usually refer to moments in entertainment award shows as "important."

This one was a big deal.

This is equally interesting and gross—a combination that can potentially make this video one of those "break the Internet" type? It has close to 750 views at the moment, but websites like BuzzFeed and USA Today's For The Win are spreading the word. 

Anyway, here you go: a rat dragging a slice of cheese pizza down the stairs at a Manhattan bus station. 


If you noticed, the rat ditched the pizza in the end. Will it come back for it? Why did it abandon the slice? A lot of questions unanswered.

(Nope, you'll never get those 14 seconds of your life back. I'm sorry. I, too, will get back to work now.) 

History was made in Colorado, guys: Tax revenue from marijuana sales was higher than revenue brought in by alcohol. 

The state raised about $70 million from weed in fiscal year 2014-2015, compared to the less than $42 million from alcohol sales, according to the Marijuana Policy Project. Last Wednesday, Colorado celebrated a "marijuana tax holiday," where the state suspended marijuana sales for a day. And I guess it was a well deserved break. 

“Marijuana taxes have been incredibly productive over the past year, so this tax holiday is a much-deserved day off,” said Mason Tvert, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, and a co-director of the campaign in support of the 2012 initiative to regulate and tax marijuana like alcohol in Colorado. A similar measure in Arizona is currently gathering signatures to make the ballot for next year's general election. “This will be the one day out of the year when the state won’t generate significant revenue. Over the other 364 days, it will bring in tens of millions of dollars that will be reinvested in our state.”

Tvert  said it's crazy to think the state missed out on so much money when it suppressed marijuana into the black market. "It's even crazier that so many states are still doing it. Tax revenue is just one of many good reasons to replace marijuana prohibition with a system of regulation."

The nearly $70 million include: $43,938,721 from a 10 percent special sales tax on retail marijuana sales to adults; $25,959,338 from a 15 percent excise tax on wholesale transfers of marijuana intended for adult use. Alcohol-wise: $27,309,606 from excise taxes collected on spirited liquors; $8,881,349 from excise taxes on beer; and $5,646,692 from excise taxes collected on vinous liquors. These figures do not include standard state sales taxes or any local taxes, MPP said.

The Arizona initiative MPP is pushing would allow adults 21 and older to possess limited amounts of weed; cultivate six plants per person or 12 total in a household; establish 15 percent tax on retail marijuana sales, with much of the revenue going toward Arizona schools and public education programs, among other guidelines. MPP recently said they expect to see at least $40 million annually invested in education thanks to the revenue. 

No shame this weekend, friends.